Richard is an independent game developer that credits his abilities as a game designer largely to a period in which he made a lot of experimental prototypes. He’s currently developing Kairo, but rather than talk about that, will be doing a session titled “INTERACTIVE FICTION IS WICKED”. It really is. If you haven’t tried any of it, go and play Violet. Do it now, because it’s wonderful. It’s come a long way since the 80s, when it had long tape loads, San Francisco earthquakes, groos, and arsey men shooting you for taking an apple. Richard will have many more examples of excellent modern IF on the day.

Unlike the photo of him above, Ricky is razor sharp. Co-founderof Honeyslug and co-organiser of both London Indies and The Wild Rumpus, he’s an indie kingpin. Also, a lovely man.

At Bit of Alright, on the 3rd of February, he’ll be running a session where game designers are asked questions about their games. The thing is, they won’t be allowed to know in advance what questions he’s going to ask about their work.

(Edit: I hit post a bit early on this one. Ricky wasn’t even announced!)

Cliff will be doing a talk called “How to actually get out of bed and finish a complex indie game”. His games include Democracy 2, Gratuitous Space Battles, and the upcoming Gratuitous Tank Battles.

There are few people better to talk to about finishing games. After working for some major studios, he became a self-publishing indie in 2006, and handles everything from art and programming to tech support. You can read a little of why Cliff chose to go indie here. From every day business decisions like pricing to controversial issues like piracy, his opinions often differ to common consensuses, but are sensibly thought through.